Bookshelf: APFEL

APFEL – A Practice For Everyday Life – are a long-standing and much respected graphic design agency. Their team, recently grown, use a thoughtful blend of beautiful and innovative means to tell design stories for galleries, publishers and brands with identities, websites, editorial, signage etc… it’s very likely you’ve already seen their work so here is their bookshelf! A definitive five volumes, selected collectively by the whole studio, with a insightful emphasis on beautiful books about design (plus Monty Python).

Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques throughout History Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott and Bernard Stein

A mammoth of a book with over 600 pages, Typography is packed full of all sorts of weird and wonderful type design and is guaranteed to provide plenty of hidden gems to help out whenever we’re in need of some inspiration. Rather than displaying type in a sterile environment, it focuses on context and uses examples ranging from posters and ephemera through identities and spreads from books to illustrate the type in use. The really great thing about this book is the way in which it’s been put together – you get a real sense of how different colours, materials and printing techniques can interact with type to achieve all kinds of interesting effects.www.amazon.co.uk/typographywww.tdc.org/reviews/typography

Beauty and the Book Mirjam Fischer

This retrospective, published in 2004, charts the winners and runners-up from the first six decades of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books competition, which has been commending exceptional examples of Swiss book design since 1944. It’s fitting, then, that it manages to be a seriously beautiful Swiss book in its own right. No small detail has been overlooked in the book’s design, and there are plenty of playful ways in which it engages the reader: a folded page for an essay titled Book, Reveal your secrets; photography primarily of the nominated publications within the previous exhibition catalogues; and a sweet reminder under the back jacket cover – “Don’t pack your bookshelves too tightly”.www.amazon.co.uk/beauty-and-the-book

Atlas Nieuwe Hollanse Waterlinie %Joost Grootens%

This is such a stunning book. Joost Grootens is well known for the way in which his beautiful maps interpret fascinating subjects through extremely systematic and beautiful information design. In this case, the focus is on the New Dutch Water Defence Line, and with the finishing touches of gorgeous colour and top-notch print production, it’s a great example of how complex ideas and structures can be enhanced and explained through the power of design. Our copy was given to us by Joost himself, and we really treasure it.www.grootens.nl

Graphics and Books Dieter Roth

Dieter Rot was a prolific creative force and completely obsessed with the idea of multiples and series – this book pretty much epitomises that attitude, cataloguing all the books, etchings and graphics he made between 1947 and 1971. His output over the years was incredibly diverse, including everything from art books and pamphlets to a series of 100 cakes, and his collaborative and productive attitude is something to aspire to.www.amazon.co.uk/graphics-and-bookswww.wikipedia.org/dieter-roth

Though you might not expect it, this can teach you an awful lot about how to put a very interesting book together – from the humour of its content and the playfulness of its design to the inventive printing and production techniques it contains and the way it borrows so effectively from the visual language of the everyday. We already owned this book before we even knew it was designed by one of our heroes, Derek Birdsall, who was working under the moniker Omnific. It’s both strange and a little bit brilliant to think of him designing this and then moving on to something like the Book of Common Prayer. Still, we could always tell it had been designed by someone who knew what they were doing, and was working with their client to produce not just a book about Monty Python but an extension of the film itself.www.wikipedia.org/monty-pythons-big-red-book

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“I am not a collector of design books even though I appreciate books,” director Thomas Traum tells It’s Nice That, “My visual culture is no longer shaped by books. (But avoiding to be pigeonholed here, it’s certainly not shaped by Instagram either).” The creative force behind Traum Inc, Thomas and his team create still and moving images with an explorative digital approach. Working in the industry for over ten years, Thomas has helped spearhead an aesthetic which has seen him work with the likes of Kenzo, Nike and Chanel.

As the creative director of KesselsKramer you’d expect Dave Bell to have a fair amount of sought after art books lining his shelves. But Dave’s bookshelf actually turns out to be sort of limitless. “In mine there are photo books, design books, unread books, Christmas stocking filler books, clever books, stupid books, books about how to write and how not to write,” he tells It’s Nice That. “There is a book solely dedicated to apostrophes and swearing. There are books made by KesselsKramer and books made about KesselsKramer. There are gaps where books have been lost, books that I borrowed from friends but never returned, and almost all of them are dog-eared, and torn, scribbled on and have backs carelessly broken.”

Charlie Fox is a London-based writer whose fiction and non-fiction writings deal with all things strange and spooky. It’s an interest which has seen his words grace publications like Frieze, Artforum, The New York Times, and The White Review. It’s safe to say, he’s a man with a thing or two to say.

“Books have always had a calming effect on me, not just for the stories they carry, but the visual narratives they bring into my life,” Indhira Rojas, founder and creative director of Anxy Magazine tells It’s Nice That, “I find the visual stimulation quite soothing.”

Johanna Burai is a designer. She’s also an illustrator, a sculptor, and an art director. In short, she’s a modern creative polymath, which is exactly the kind of thing we’re into here at It’s Nice That.

It’s been a long year, hasn’t it? And your eyes are tired, aren’t they? We can help. Why not soothe those sore lids by taking a visual stroll down recent-memory lane with 25 of our most read photography pieces of 2018? From KangHee Kim’s satisfyingly shimmering images of celestial streetlamps to Sam Gregg’s gloriously vivid snapshots of life in sun-soaked Naples, all of life this year gone is here.
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Film, all things considered, is a pretty good medium. Over the past 12 months we’ve covered all sorts, from documentaries detailing the daily lives of London’s North Korean immigrant community to a chef-heavy music video by the much-loved rapper Loyle Carner. We like film. And you evidently do, too, if this Top 25 film-related It’s Nice That pieces from 2018 is anything to go by.
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We count ourselves incredibly lucky here at It’s Nice That, largely because we come into contact with such superb examples of illustration on a daily basis. As you can see from the features below, which were the 25 most read on the site over the past 12 months, the bulk of what comes our way is good. Really good. Lap up the creme de la creme below. You deserve it. After all, you got these pieces where they are today.

You can’t have failed to notice how much attention It’s Nice That focuses on graphic design. This year we have, as ever, cast a gaze over everything from big name commercial work to the fantastic self-initiated projects that feel as fresh now as they did the first day they arrived perfectly formed in our inbox. Practitioners and enthusiasts alike, consider this a crash course in the year that was in graphic design.
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Animation’s in our blood at It’s Nice That. Ever since we first crawled into virtual being all those years ago, we’ve never stopped looking for the brightest and best of the animated world. If you’re looking for a fun way to soak up some creative juices over the Christmas period, why not peruse the top 25 animation articles we’ve published this year? You won’t regret it.
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From Burberry getting a new logo courtesy of Peter Saville to Marina Abramović promising to electrify herself with one million volts in the name of art, via Taylor Swift butting heads with Spike Jonze over allegations of copy-catting, and the release of a new typeface that claims to be able to boost your memory, a lot has happened in the creative world since we said hello to January back in, well, January.

As we start thinking about boarding packed trains to various parts of the country, letting It’s Nice That have a bit of time to itself, we’d like to take this opportunity to share with you, dear readers, the 100 most read articles we published in 2018. We’ve got news, work posts, and features – all of which explore the breadth of contemporary creativity. Thanks for reading!
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We’re not sure about you, but there’s something about this time of year that makes everyone here at It’s Nice That want to curl up on the sofa with a decent long read. Handy, then, isn’t it, that we’ve curated this bumper batch of the best features we’ve published on the site in 2018? They’re practically crying out to be consumed with a fistful of Pringles and an ill-advised second glass of snowball.
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As the year draws to a close and we reflect on the creative comings and goings 2018 has brought, York-based illustrator Adam Higton and French illustration duo Maxime Prou and Adéle Favreau, otherwise known as Atelier Bingo, have been working away interpreting the 12 months of the year into an A4 poster. Collaborating over Dropbox Paper, the group’s final illustrative interpretation will be available for free at our monthly event, Nicer Tuesdays.

“Illustrating data is hard,” says Mona Chalabi. Given that Mona is a data journalist who specialises in illustration, she’d know. Over the past few years, London-born, New York-based Mona has produced work for the likes of the International Organization for Migration, the Bank of England, and superstar statistician Nate Silver’s number-heavy editorial platform FiveThirtyEight.

Quickly coming out just as we reach the end of the creative year is Kim Gehrig’s newest advert, Viva La Vulva for Libresse. And, in true Kim style, it’s arguably one of the most joyful, inclusive and confidence-boosting pieces of advertising of 2018.

Emulsion is a new publication documenting cutting-edge arts and culture. Designed by the London-based design studio Our Place, the magazine is founded on pluralistic objectives with the hopes of pushing boundaries through its imaginative design and content. Its first issue is packed with artist interviews, photography, fashion, music, original artworks and opinion pieces from the likes of some of It’s Nice That’s favourite creatives including Jonathan Castro and Ida Ekblad.

Hwashin Choi’s illustrations reject the flat and digital styles of working that are so popular today. Instead, she repurposes traditional modes of realist drawing for a contemporary audience, paying close attention to how light falls on objects and the characterisation of objects and facial expression.

If ever you wanted to examine the human relationship to, and reliance on, the very resources which make up our world and how this fundamentally shapes everything we are, you need look no further than the Caspian Sea. Located at the intersection of Asia and Europe, it is the world’s largest inland body of water and one of the oldest and most important oil and natural gas-producing regions on Earth.

Over the past 12 months, Google has been delving deep into the fascinating world of machine learning with articles on Google Design, plus new open-source projects and products. With AI becoming an increasingly prevalent part of the creative world, this should come as no surprise. Also unsurprisingly, the work it’s carried out in the field is innovative, exciting, and stimulating.

2018’s Review of the Year is supported by Google Design. Google Design, for the uninitiated, is an initiative led by an uber-talented selection of developers, designers, and writers at Google. They’re all about working across teams to create top-notch content and to produce events that champion creativity and showcase the brilliant design work Google does day in and day out. Having celebrated a Milan Design Week debut, amongst other achievements, it feels like Google Design has pushed on from an already exciting position.

We’ve decided to look back on a quartet of projects that turned our head in 2018. For more, check out Google Design’s Best of 2018, where the editorial team highlights all of the year’s noteworthy design projects.h3. Google Fonts + 한국어 소개

Emily Oberman can hardly believe her luck. The designer, a partner in Pentagram’s New York office since 2012, is a self-professed Harry Potter “super fan” and for the past three years has been working to bring some of the newest projects in the wizarding universe to life. Put simply, it’s been a dream project to work on something that, as she puts it, “entertains the world”.

We all have an idea of what fashion in Tokyo entails. Harajuku girls, manga-inspired makeup, doll-like dresses embellished with lace, Muji minimalism and bold, Comme Des Garçons silhouettes. Our perceptions of Japanese fashion from the West understand boldness and visual excess, yet there are innumerable nuances within Tokyo’s fashion scene as seen through labels such as Pugment.

As we near the end of our look back at 2018, we’ve enlisted journalist, broadcaster and editor Kieran Yates to look back over the key moments which shaped the creative (and wider) world over the past 12 months. From logo-heavy football shirts to Love Island, these are some of the stories that got us talking.

Shinwoo Park has been running the graphic design studio Paperpress since 2016 in Seoul. Working across a variety of disciplines wherever graphics are concerned, from the tongue of a shoe trainer to pin badges and poster design, Paperpress locates the point where “graphic design and description overlap” to create expressive designs that suit each client.

“I think with photography you can create a whole fantasy around yourself, so when I design a set and develop a character for a picture, I try to create an entirely new reality for me and the people I’m portraying, hopefully, a reality that is better than the actual one,” explains México City-based photographer Andrés Mañon. With several commissions for the likes of i-D Mexico under his belt, Andrés’ work does exactly as he intends, building elaborate worlds full of over-saturated, yet altogether compelling characters.

Our final speaker at Nicer Tuesdays November was Leipzig-based illustrator, Anna Haifisch. After seeing Anna speak at Eike König’s After School Club in Offenbach during July this year, we quickly realised the illustrator was a must to speak at Nicer Tuesdays before the year was up, also doubling up as the first comic reading we’ve had at our monthly event.

Joining us at Nicer Tuesdays November was Yuri Suzuki, shortly after the designer’s slightly surprising announcement that he was the newest Pentagram partner. Even Yuri notes how the decision for him to join the design partnership was a surprise to himself, recalling how when the initial conversation began his first question was “Why!?”

A little while ago, art director Anna Sullivan spotted an old vintage postcard featuring stilt walking shepherds. Stilt walking shepherds! Curious, as anyone in their right mind would be, Anna started digging into why these shepherds were atop stilts — which we now only associate with childhood games and circus performances — to herd sheep.

It’s Nice That favourites Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared created by the fun-filled directors Becky and Joe, will head to Sundance Film Festival next year. The Blinkink creative duo will premier their Youtube-hit series at the largest independent film festival in the US this January 2019.

Boiler Room is yet again shedding light on important social issues in a part of the world that is little known to us. The second film for its Contemporary Scenes series is To Live & Die in Manila and sees music orientated artists from the Filipino capital emotively express their frustrations under the bloodbaths incurred by the president of just over two years, Rodrigo Duterte.

New York based producer and DJ Anthony Naples has been an It’s Nice That favourite ever since we first heard the effervescent Mad Disrespect on some sweaty dancefloor somewhere back in 2012. We were hooked from that half-remembered moment on.

Yung Hua Chen’s photography is seductive and cinematic. The Taipei-based photographer captures alluring portraits for fashion designers and also, purely for the love of the medium. Recently, she’s been shooting her lover Chihtian Shih. She tells It’s Nice That, “he inspires me in many kinds of ways. He’s an actor and plays many different roles that give him different life experiences.” Chihtian’s brooding good looks are seen in all types of situations; dappled in a dusky sunlight, walking the streets of Taipei, peacefully sleeping still in his clothes.

For the past ten years, graphic and spacial design studio Julia has been producing work for clients from the cultural and commercial sector, including everything from typefaces to books, magazines, exhibitions, posters, websites and identities. Having been formed in late 2008 by Valerio Di Lucente, Erwan Lhuissier and Hugo Timm, Valerio and Erwan (who have been running the studio since May of this year) are celebrating a decade of Julia. We caught up with the pair to find out a bit more about how their work has taken shape over this time.

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